A Conversation for Dancing on 'Top of the Pops'

Land Of 1,000 Dances

Post 1

9.800

Seems that it's a cultural thing - American pop shows* are different. 'Soul Train' used to pride itself on having good dancers in the studio audience. Having said that, I think earlier British TV shows from the 60's used to have snappier dancers. Also, TOTP hasn't ever really made a feature of the audience. It's always been structured around having acts on a number of different stages in the studio which the audience would have to run to and from, in between numbers, rather than a proper dancefloor. So audiences usually shuffle around unselfconsciously.
* The John Waters' film 'Hairspray' took an affectionate poke at shows like 'American Bandstand'. Kids would do dances such as the Frug, the Ska, the Hully-Gully, the Hitchhike (!), the Madison.
Maybe this would make a good subject for a Guide entry. I can't think of any good recent examples apart from the Bogle, and that was a while back. Other examples would have to include that 'dead fly' thing, that sitting-down rowing thing, and sitting down to James' 'Sit Down'.


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